Award Winner – Man’s Impact on Nature
Well, it’s official, I can announce that one of my images won 3rd place in the Outdoor Photography Canada Spring Photo competition. It is published in the latest edition which should be on the shelves now: both published and an award winner in one fell swoop. Please note that the edition is the Fall/Winter edition. It has a gorgeous canoe and lake image on it by Wayne Simpson.
I am very impressed with the quality and content of the magazine that I am going to let my Outdoor Photography subscription lapse, and start Outdoor Photography Canada. The two magazines are not related, despite the similarity in names. An added benefit is that the magazine is Canadian.
If you want to maximize your chances of winning a competition, there are judging guidelines from the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts (CAPA). I’m not going to list them all. Instead I’m going to provide a super simple list of things to consider. Keep in mind that judges may have as little as 10 seconds to view your submitted image: it pays to keep it simple.
1. Wow factor – 4 points
2. composition – 3 points
3. technical – 3 points
The judge’s first impression is ‘wow’. Given the 10 second limitation, they need to get the impact right away. If you don’t have this, you’ve probably lost. After that, they then quickly assess composition factors: clear subject, colour, negative space etc. Finally they look at the technical aspects of the image: exposure, focus etc. All in 10 seconds, so they do not dwell on any factor, nor do they look at a lot of the factors in composition or technical.
Finally, different judges will view the same image differently. If a competition has more than 1 judge, then the system above can balance things out.
The last thing to keep in mind? Judging is a very hard task, so cut the judges some slack and appreciate the final winners on their own merits. Final, last thing? Keep submitting! And good luck.
Enjoying the Light Pollution - 3rd Place winner OPC competition: Man's Impact on Nature